This year I’m trying to spend very little money on decorations and make do with what I already have. I think I did really well on the Entry. Here’s the breakdown:
Pine needle garland, berry garland, and candy canes were all from previous years. $0.00


Everything in the small front window are from previous Christmases. $0.00


Vinyl I made for the front door this year. About .75 cents

Reindeer collection, small wreath and berry wreath all from previous years. $0.00

Hubby hanging ornaments on chandelier. The large ones were from 2 years ago. I tied some balls together I already had, on ribbon, to make them longer. The red and silver spiral ones I bought at the dollar store this year, so $2.00.

Do you want to see how tall our entry is? The bottom of the chandelier hangs at about 13′. That’s why hubby is hanging the ornaments and not me.

I made the Advent calendar this year out of things we had left over from the mudroom construction. I had to buy the scrapbook paper and the candy. About $2.50.

The picture on the left is me when I was 4 years old at Santa Claus Land, Indiana. The one at the right is my 3 youngest kids, last year at the Mall.

The bell garland was $5.50 on sale and the letters to Santa envelope was $2.25 on sale.

I’m always wondering where to display Christmas cards that we receive and trying new things every year, so this is what I came up with this year. I have these laying around everywhere and mostly use them for Spring and Summer, but don’t the cards look great on them. There’s tiny clothespins to hold the cards on. The Santa cards are vintage ones my sister-in-law gave me. I love them. $0.00

So, that’s the Entry to our Home. Total Cost – $13.00. Not too bad. I wanted to come in at under $10, but I guess that bell garland sent me over the top. It was too cute to pass up and I’ll use it for years to come. By the way, my kids wrote their letters to Santa last night and stuck them in the envelope. I’m sure nothing came in at under $13 on their lists.








